What's the deal with Jenova? Final Fantasy VII Discussion

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If Jenova were to be the one actually in control in the Remake series, or even if they weren’t, I think it’d be fascinating to see Sephiroth and Jenova come into conflict over their own specific motivations

You mentioned the blob, but I feel like Jenova is more closely related to the alien from the movie “the thing”. Both are shapeshifters. Both want to destroy the planets race. Both can have copies of themselves, are locked away until they are found and released into the world, and both turn into abominations when confronted.

Babe wake up a new Alleyway Jack video just dropped. And great topic. Sephiroth overshadows a lot of Jenova as one of the main enemies. Jenova is a good take on an otherworldly, alien, malevolent entity. Unlike Sephiroth, Jenova continues enigmatic with unanswered questions.

I think most people overlooked Jenova in favour of Sephiroth when playing the game. Jenova doesn't have a personality and easily comes off as this mindless organic thing, like a virus. It's very easy to assume that Sephiroth is behind everything. But, I've seen a few analysis videos lately that bring up a good argument that Jenova was the mastermind the whole time and Sephiroth was just its puppet. And if one were to try to make Sephiroth sympathetic (which I don't really agree with) you would play into that plot more.

It's fun to marvel at the way that VII balanced such a cast of personal and impersonal villains. Between Sephiroth, Jenova, Hojo and Shinra, all of them with distinct motivations and loyalties. They aren't an organized group of villains at all - and yet there is a strong coherence between all of them, even when Shinra nearly become anti-heroic and engage in some degree of atonement and redemption. You can see how VII iterated off of how villains had been treated in past titles. It moved away from the "Man behind the Man" thing from III and IV (Cloud of Darkness & Zemus/Zeromus) - which pretty much what happened again in VIII and to a large extent IX. It was very ambitious, and you can see its influence in later titles, particularly in X with regard to having a Personal and Impersonal antagonist, with Yu Yevon/Sin taking Jenova's place and Jecht taking Sephiroth's. Great stuff.

Given how Jenova appears in the Remake, I think it definitely fits the archetype of the “unknowable cosmic entity from the stars” that suddenly enters the midst of humans. It’s almost Lovecraftian in that way, particularly during the boss fight with Jenova Dreamweaver in how it projects itself into the heroes’ minds. I enjoy the mystery that surrounds it overall, and I think it adds a layer of menace when facing it directly.

I always saw Jenova as a JRPG version of "the thing" we will never know its true form or if it even really has one.

I can't remember where I read it. But I remember seeing that when Sephiroth fell into the lifestream he gained the knowledge of the planet. So he should know that Hojo and Lucrecia are his parents. Also my theory ever since Dirge is that Jenova is a corrupt Omega Weapon from another planet

Without Jenova arriving and trying to kill the Cetra nothing in the lore would've happened. She is the main villain the same way Morgoth in Tolkein's mythology is the underlying main evil even though you never really follow it and interact with it too much. It is the catalyst for the whole legacy.

The thought of jenova silently shapeshifting into a form that would resonate with Sephiroth prior to their encounter is beyond eerie.

Always love hearing about Jenova. THX 👍

Jenova is Secret of Mana's Thanatos. Thanatos. Thanatos! (at least primarily). While comparing Jenova to the Thing is fair (the lower tentacles do seem suspect in the Jenova Birth/Life/Death forms, although FFV's tree-like roots Exodus could be another influence), other influences are at hand (others in the chat have mentioned FFIII's Cloud of Darkness, which is accurate in terms of a feminine figure/Jenova's bareness in the tank). The orb on Jenova's right shoulder also references Zeromus's orbs from FFIV (I believe) as well as foreshadowing the "orb" on Sephiroth's right shoulder as well on his one-wing in the Sepher Sephiroth fight. But I have found odd design similarities between Jenova and Thanatos (presence of skulls/skull-masks, "hands" in the final form, even the collar and "head-dress", use of lasers, use of purple color in general, a cult formed from unwilling residents from a kingdom/village area (the Pandoran ruins/Nibelheim village). The Jenova latin phrase/portmaneau "new god" is probably taken from Trials of Mana, as two of the main villains in the ending branches say it- "Jenova" is just an easier way of coining the term with a name. 4:00 To be honest, both Sephiroth and Jenova are homages to various Final Fantasy villains and even villains from the Mana series. Kitase DID work on Final Fantasy Adventure (Seiken Densetsu I), and even Sephiroth is trying to keep the legacy of his ancestors "alive" in the same way as Julius did in FFA, imo. And both are the "sole survivors" of said "empires". 4:25 Appendages that resemble the number VII or count to seven. Birth/Life/Death also has a skull mask with a half-fanged jaw (like a cat), except it has seven teeth.

Great videos man! I'm finding myself watch one by one of these

Like many things in Final Fantasy VII, they are obvious in the context of what came before in the series. Jenova is the same Evil Witch Archetype as the Cloud of Darkness from Final Fantasy III, just tweaked to be a space witch. Final Fantasy VII is also interesting because, in every single game prior, the villain's final transformation to that of a god/demigod was complete, but both jenova and sephiroth do not complete their transformations before being defeated. Jenova BIRTH would appear to be forming around the heart with fur, perhaps taking the form of a Sphynx or some type of beast deity.

Why yes, I did read the title like it was the set up of a Seinfeld joke

My opinion is just based on the raw 1997 version of FFVII not any sequels or prequels or the remake: This is little bit like Larvos in Chrono Trigger, if you think about it. That alien did not have much of a personality either, had no use for cell infections, but was the Meteor all by himself, so he was allready summoned and his impact ended the reign of the dinosaurs. And Magus was not the main antagonist either, but looked like one, both Magus and Sephiroth were playable, too in their games. So, i don't buy into Sephiroth beeing the main antagonist, even if he is in control of Jenova's legacy he is just a very tragic character more like an antihero who did go rogue. Compare this to Kefka in FFVI - Kefka was never known as hero, unlike Sephiroth, both have undergone some experiments that enhanced their performance in combat, but in Kefka's case some of those experiments went completly wrong and he got mad and evil doing really villain like things, more so than Sephiroth, he actually managed to destroy the planet and caused a lot of heartless crimes, before it. Sephiroth on the other side, only went mad when he was close to Jenova at Niflheim, think about that one. The illusion of free will does not mean anything, if you still work for the greater cause, meaning destroying the planet to absorb the life stream, something Jenova planned for thousands of years. If Jenova is indeed working like the Thing in Carpenters remake movie, Jenova is 100% in control of everything, but its more subtle done in FFVII, which i think was a great idea. It might, be that its easier to portray Sephiroth as the villain in modern times for SquareEnix, because he is a humanoid to relate, to and make PR with, but it makes of course absolutely no sense whatsoever, in the context i have answered in my post here. He is no Kefka. He is not even remotely as evil as him he actually is the tragic hero in FFVII.

Nowaday i hear the The Thing theme in my head when it come to jenova. By ilfana account, jenova could deceive her people by assuming any form...

What I find interesting is, Ultimecia of FF8 is heavily criticized for being passive and indirect as a villain. Jenova almost never gets that criticism. Jenova manipulates Sephiroth, fans applaud that. Ultimecia manipulates Edea and the other sorceresses and it gets heavily criticized.

Yunaleska from ffX is jenova in ff7. After the planet was cleansed from geostigma in ff7 AC. She slept in the life stream until she could recreate her body as a human summoner during ffX. Or, and this is a stretch…. But after being defeated in FFX, Yunaleska used the farplain/life stream to travel back in time to FF7 and take over the planet. She did it because normal ppl couldn’t Summon/use magic except for the cetra who were the only ppl who could use magic at the time. I’m figuring she traveled back in time because there were less ppl who could challenge her power.